


Cali Lives! (A tribute fic in memory of Becuzitswrong)

by DeepBlueJoy



Category: Becuzitswrong fic, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen, becuzitswrong tribute fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25859785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeepBlueJoy/pseuds/DeepBlueJoy
Summary: This story is a tribute in honour of the late author TtH (among others) Becuzitswrong and his story, Life's Ending, Life's Beginning, which remains unfinished due to his untimely death.  This is not an official sequel.  Simply a way to say thanks to an author who we lost way too soon.Summary: Cali (Buffy Summers) is falling fast...  her parachute has failed.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 21





	Cali Lives! (A tribute fic in memory of Becuzitswrong)

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(This is an UNAUTHORIZED AND UNOFFICIAL *SEQUEL IN TRIBUTE* of a permanently unfinished fanfic Story)

**Standard Disclaimer:** Nope, I still don’t own Buffy or Stargate or any other universe that appears in any of my stories. I do own this story.

 **Special Disclaimer:** This story is a completely UNAUTHORIZED AND UNOFFICIAL _sequel in tribute_ to an unfinished story. This story is NOT an official continuation or adoption of the original story **Life's Ending, Life's Beginning by the late author _Becuzitswrong_**

This story was _not_ authorized by the author before his death or his family/estate afterward. This story is only MY version of what might have happened to Cali (Buffy) after the last chapter of becuzitswrong's unfortunately unfinished story due to his untimely death. It does not work from any notes or other source material by the original author and is therefore a completely _unauthorized and UNCONNECTED **Sequel in Tribute**_. 

If you don't like this version, please remember, it IS NOT Becuzitswrong's story, and he is in no way associated with this story. Any flaws in this story should only be attributed to me. If this story is any good, part of the credit goes to the original author for his inspiring ideas. NONE of this story is the responsibility of the author of the original story or his estate.

**For the purposes of this story, everything in LE,LB is completely canon as this is fanfic of the LE,LB universe. This story begins directly after the last chapter of that story. :**

>>>>>This story will make NO sense if you have not read becuzitswrong's story<<<<<<

 _One final note_ : I don’t currently intend to attempt to finish his wonderful story because I have no idea where he was going to take it, but after I read the last chapter of his story, then heard of his tragic death, I just couldn’t leave Cali/Buffy hanging in midair. This is what Muse gave me. I hesitated to share it because it’s imperfect, but I decided to post it here because even after these several years, I miss Becuzitswrong, and I know I’m not alone.

Becuzitswrong inspired many of my fanfic ideas and he is part of why I play in the fanfic sandbox at all. This is a little bit of thanks.

So sad he is gone.

Blue

The actual story my ficlet adds to is here: (on the Twisting the Hellmouth crossover site)  
[Life's Ending, Life's Beginning](https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-14121/becuzitswrong+Life+s+Ending+Life+s+Beginning.htm)

If you haven’t read Life’s Ending, Life’s Beginning; you should read it even though it will never be finished, because it is a great story. Sadly, the author died suddenly (9/18/2016), leaving several works unfinished. 

___________

Anyone else in this situation would be dead… well, dying, but Buffy Summers wasn’t just anybody, and giving up wasn’t in her nature. Sabotaged parachutes weren’t going to take her, not after everything else that had happened to her! Even though she could barely breathe, she forced herself not to panic. She forced herself to ‘lie’ spreadeagled on the air currents in an effort to slow her descent and to give herself a few extra seconds to figure out what to do. Then, in the corner of her vision, she caught what looked like a tumbling black blob heading directly at her - and fast. 

Even as it fell, she knew what it was. Another jumper; except he was falling in a completely uncontrolled manner, his body buffeted by the air currents. Somehow, she must have been pulled in his direction by the dead parachute before she’d unclipped it, or maybe his trajectory had taken him on an arc instead of straight down. It didn’t matter. In moments, they would collide or come close to it. As if in slow motion, she judged his arrival, somehow grabbed onto him, wrapping her legs around his body like a vise; and knowing they were much too low already, immediately pulled his cord, holding on for dear life, as the parachute jerked them hard to a slowed descent. 

Then they floated down, a little too fast, but still, she hoped, slow enough for survival. Buffy had both arms and both legs wrapped around the man who still hadn’t said a word. The rush of wind and the precariousness of her position meant she didn’t loosen her grip or even move much to try to look at him. But she could tell the ground was coming up fast. Knowing the landing was going to be extra bumpy, Buffy instinctively twisted so her body hit the ground first, the hard impact knocking the breath from her lungs. Then their momentum flipped them and they rolled them head over heels in a blur of motion; then they were dragged by partially the wind-filled parachute a bit further, abrading their skin and causing them both a lot of minor lacerations. 

It was all over in seconds, but time had virtually stopped for Buffy as she struggled to hold on and keep control as much as possible, an effort that strained even her superior musculature to painful extremes. Finally, they were stopped, and she sucked in a deep, shuddering breath as the world restarted. She sat there, slightly stunned, for what might have been several minutes, as pain from the least severe of her injuries dwindled to nothing, and the more severe already appeared as little more than light bruises and abrasions. 

Slowly, she became fully aware of vehicles screaming toward them, kicking up a huge trail of dust behind them and the sounds of the planes overhead. The sounds of reality slowly filtered back in as the shock began to wear off. In the distance, other jumpers floated serenely down to earth. Somewhere, inexplicably, she heard a bird singing.

“You… OK?” she asked her fellow cadet as her grip slackened and she half-sat, half-fell next to him; her breath finally controlled enough to allow speech.

As she’d collected herself fully, she began to try to assess her injuries. Nothing major! Thank god. Anyone else would have broken most of her ribs just from breaking the fall of nearly two hundred pounds of cadet and equipment, but only a couple of hers were cracked. She had a feeling she’d look like a human bruise for a few days, but that was probably a good thing, considering the fact that she was lucky to be alive at all. Most of the lacerations and scratches were already gone, and thankfully, even the cracked ribs were beginning to ache a little less.

“Yeah. I think so. What happened?” He stared at her almost dumbly.

“You saved me?” she said.

“What?” He frowned.

“You saw me falling, right?”

“I—, no,” he said. “Uh, no, I don’t… remember.”

That was when Buffy realized there was blood spatter on her palm, where she’d made contact with his head, instinctively cradling his head with both hands as they landed when she’d realized his helmet was missing. There was blood on his collar and in his hair. She reached around to the back of his head and it came back thickly bloody so she took a look. He had a nasty gash on the back of his head. He was probably concussed. Buffy stared at him, suddenly realizing that she’d been given yet another chance. The Powers couldn’t be seen to intervene… but creating a one in a million coincidence? That they could do!

“Oh my god!” she said, grinning, “I don’t know how, but we made it.”

Buffy hugged the surprised jumper, releasing him as soon as she felt him tense up. He probably hurt all over. She was still feeling twinges. She stood up, reaching out her hand toward him. He remained sitting, staring up at her, looking slightly confused.

“You sure you’re OK?” she asked.

“Cadet Summers! Cadet Brice!” a voice called out, sounding none too calm. “How in the hell did you survive that?”

Even as he spoke, several other vehicles were arriving. Including the ambulance, whose sirens Buffy had first registered as they landed.

“He… Uh… We saved each other, I guess, sir,” said Buffy.

“What?” The instructor stared at her.

“I think he got knocked out exiting the plane, sir,” said Buffy. “I grabbed him as he went by and pulled his cord.”

“You have got to be kidding! How the hell did you manage to grab ahold of him and not let go when the chute deployed? We thought… we saw your parachutes fail… Then he hit the side of the plane on exit. We thought you were both dead.”

The other cadet just stared up at them, looking slightly confused. His bell had been well and truly wrung, and he was seeing two of everything, and it was bright enough that they would have been partially silhouetted anyway. He tried to get up, but wobbled and sat back down. 

“I don’t feel so good,” said the cadet.

“I think he needs a hospital, sir,” said Buffy, standing up, and showing them her bloody hand. “He’s got a nasty cut on the back of his head.”

“Medic!” said another new arrival, a colonel. “Get this man to the hospital, now!”

“I need a backboard…” cried another voice. “Let’s get him immobilized.”

“What about her?” asked their instructor as the medics began to both examine and prepare the other cadet for transport.

“I’m fine,” said Buffy. “Just a few scratches.”

“Didn’t he land on you?” asked the instructor, who’d seen their landing.

“Sort of,” said Buffy. “Trust me, I’ve had worse.”

“You need to be checked out too. Ride back in the ambulance with them!”

“But sir…” said Buffy.

“That’s an order.”

“Sir, wait,” she said. “Someone sabotaged my parachutes. Both of them. This wasn’t an accident.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely certain,” said Buffy. “As soon as I tried to open it… well, I smelled a horrible smell… some kind of chemical reaction, I think.”

“You had better not be making this up to save your butt!” said the officer.

“Look,” said Buffy. “Look at my uniform.”

She stretched out her left arm. The sleeve of her uniform had turned inexplicably black, and as he reached to touch it Buffy flinched back.

“No! You should get gloves,” she said. “I got a tiny bit on me… Whatever it is, it stings, sir.”

Actually, whatever it was had burned a nasty strip off her forearm about four inches long, but since the already healed blistered burn was all but invisible under the dust and grime she’d picked up on landing, she didn’t mention it.

“You’re lucky you didn’t get burned worse,” said the man. As he tugged at her sleeve with a gloved hand, part of it came off in his hand. “I think this was burned with some kind of acid.”

“Yes, sir,” said Buffy. “Someone tried to kill me, sir.”


End file.
